THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
If you know how Disney functions in the 21st century, it’s keeping the hits relevant with do-overs and sequels. With Pirates of the Caribbean being the most iconic theme park attraction to become a motion picture franchise with five entries that have gained financial success, it makes sense to see a second iteration of Haunted Mansion.
PLOT
The 2023 adaptation takes place in New Orleans follows Gabbie and her young son Travis who move into Gracey Manor and turn it into a bed & breakfast. The plan doesn’t go quickly in motion due to it being infested with ghosts. They do the right thing in trying to leave, only for the haunting to follow wherever they take shelter, resulting in them to stay and figure out why this is happening. They first reach out to a priest named Father Kent for help, but since he happens to be a con man, he recruits astrophysicist Ben Matthias who has developed a camera meant to detect dark matter. He doesn’t take the situation serious due to the despondence he’s felt over the loss of his wife Alyssa (Charity Jordan) who died in a car accident. Once the various ghosts follow him too, he accepts the unusual reality around him. Knowing that they need more help, the new group recruits a professional psychic named Harriet to narrow down how many ghosts are in the mansion and figure out what they want. Ben & Kent also contact historian Bruce Davis for blueprints of the mansion since he’s been obsessed about it all his life. Due to how he’s too old to handle the haunting, they choose to steal the blueprints from him. Once Harriet joins, they find an old seance room that belonged to the late William Gracey (JR Adduci). There, the ghost of the mansion’s previous owner instructs them to talk to the legendary medium Madame Leota. Just as that happens, a malevolent forces Harriet out, as well as an arriving Bruce. Eventually, they check the attic and find a crystal ball holding Leota herself. Awakened, she explained how she was trying to help Gracey contact the spirit of his wife but after a whole year of trying, it resulted in all the ghosts taking up residence. The same malevolent spirit was able to trick Gracey to take his life and trap her in the ball. He only needs one more soul to escape from the mansion and wreak havoc towards the living. The only way to prevent this from happening is to commit a banishment enchantment which will require an object the evil spirit once possessed. So, Harriet decides to perform astral projection with the group in hopes to narrow down what to collect. Ben ends up getting sent out of his body and encounters the evil ghost that disappears and reappears within a hatbox. Having a police sketch artist draw his face, it turns out the spirit is Alistair Crump who committed murder rituals to remain powerful in wealth until being assassinated by his house staff. Once the truth is out, he tries to trap the whole group inside Gracey Manor until Ben leaves with Kent & Travis to find an object that belonged to Crump himself. At Crump Manor that is now a tourist attraction, they find his top hat in an abandoned fireplace. When returning to the mansion, Kent admits he’s a fraud and is afraid but Ben motivates him to go back in with him. However, Crump possesses Bruce to steal the top hat and incinerate it. He then tries convincing not only Ben but also Travis to be the last soul(s) since the latter’s father also died recently and Ben mistook him to be alive. As Ben & Gabbie save the boy, Kent rallies the ghosts to go against Crump while Bruce retrieves the remnant of the hat. Harriet would also free Leota and with the remnant, the banishment ritual happens as they all hoped. In a last effort, Crump tires to tempt Ben in reuniting with Alyssa, but he makes peace by kicking him back into the netherworld. While some ghosts leave the mansion, most choose to stay and Gabbie & Travis accept them since they are no longer a threat. After being victorious, Kent officially gets ordained. Ben also continues to move on with his life but would be surprised to find a car staying by his door named Tater Tot, a nod to his wife’s favorite food. The film ends with him visiting the others on Halloween day at the mansion now turned into the bed & breakfast Gabbie always wanted, who got hired at a local hospital.
THOUGHTS
With 20 years gone by from the previous adaptation, I again wasn’t sure what I wanted as long as it was fun and boy did this feel the most in comparison. Director Julius Simen was able to give the right amount of spooks that was still quite entertaining in its own way. You know you’re gonna get a some laughs with ghosts getting creative when scaring trespassers or seeing Dan Levy & Winona Ryder play over the top tour guides. The biggest improvement I can say off the bat is the visual effects because besides Jared Leto’s vindictive Hatbox Ghost or Jamie Lee Curtis’ enchanting take on Madame Leota, each other ghost in between are so distinctive from one another you can’t look away because you want to know what’s next to see. I even felt that the production design was another improvement because now having to have been on the attraction in advance, it felt like there was so much faith to how the mansion looked where you’d think you’re part of the experience again. The biggest difference I can say that makes this whole movie better than the predecessor is it’s way to say we gotta continue accepting death as a part of life and let the grief flow rather than let it consume us otherwise we don’t move on. And if we don’t move on, we’ll forget how to be happy. That is the shtick when following a fantastic ensemble. Lakeith Stanfield leads the charge as Ben and we relate to him once we see he’s at rock bottom with the loss he went through. He was in love with Alyssa because she taught him to be open minded and the one time he didn’t, he feels that led to losing her. Ironically, it was encountering the undead that led to him being at peace and I don’t think he would’ve gotten there had he not met someone who was in a similar flow of emotions. I dug Chase Dillon as Travis because he’s all about being good but it sadly wasn’t enough for him to go through his loss. Losing his dad was rock bottom for him because it led to being bullied and constant sadness and felt seeing him again would undo all of that. Thanks to Ben, they both realize clinging onto the past doesn’t change what happened and that is what saves them from an epic defeat. On the bright side for Travis, he still had someone who loves him and will protect him no matter the predicament. Rosario Dawson was a delight as Gabbie because even though the supernatural is beyond her comprehension, she’s got the resourcefulness to believe that things were gonna blow over as long as she found the right people and ironically, each choice delivered. It is pretty easy to pick on Kent since he is not upfront with anyone until it’s too late, but Owen Wilson makes him likable due to how the original false optimism ends up becoming legit as he starts believing in himself to be fearless and it works. The fact that inspires him to be ordained is a full circle moment is too sweet to realize because it shows how much he wants to be better. Tiffany Haddish fit into the mold as Harriet because even though her confidence differs from everyone else, she gets enough to succeed. She’s always afraid of failure yet she succeeds when she least expects it and the fact her idol Leota herself was able to tell her to believe in herself sealed the deal she was the only one truly holding herself back. Once she let go of that shackle, that was enough to hit the final blow. Lastly, you can say Danny DeVito portrayed Bruce as the expository machine due to the character’s line of work. When you look past that, you can see he has his own gruffness that drives him in wanting to fit in. I don’t know what stopped him from seeing Gracey Manor sooner but once the opportunity came his way, it did not stop him from being part of whatever the experience he’d deal with. And with that, there’s no telling if there’d be a victory without him either. With all these characters having their lives changed for the better, I wouldn’t doubt their friendship would stand the test of time in New Orleans. I stand by saying this movie works for what it is, but there were still a handful of things I was scratching my head about. Like why didn’t Ben charge the camera before leaving? If his custom camera needs a good battery, he should’ve known what to do even if he was hoping for a false alarm. I also don’t get why Kent didn’t send a legit exorcist before calling Ben because maybe that would’ve done something. It’s one thing to cover the scam, but it’s another to continue such a risk. And how is there neighborhood worth of kids willing to bully Travis? Those roads are empty as hell, so those kids are in the long haul to bully the new kid. It’s even stranger when realizing the realtor or the movers never came over and it would’ve been a funny thing to play out. On top of that, why is Ben looked at as the only one grieving? I know that’s part of the twist on wanting to surprise Travis’ dad was dead the whole time, but it’s odd how despite being psychic, she doesn’t pick up on this. That even leads to me asking why isn’t Travis upfront about saying his dad died? I know we’re supposed to be surprised but in reality, he’s giving a misunderstanding since not even Gabbie told Ben until the climax just to clarify with him the truth. And I call bullshit when Ben & Kent claim to not fit the ladder hole where Crump’s head is. They look like assholes making Travis go. I know they’re scared but if they got the hat themselves, they could’ve also gotten the skull just incase. Crump even messes up when letting Bruce go and get on Travis, which is definitely stupid because that’s a wasted opportunity right there. Ignore this, then you’ll still have a good time. In short, 2023’s Haunted Mansion is a fun family horror flick for getting way more creative with an unconventional premise. If you don’t like Pirates of the Caribbean, this is a good substitute.
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